Odger Miner
(1905-1968)
Odger
Miner was born on May 21, 1905 in Washington,
Washington County, PA, the eldest son of Harry
O. and Armena V. (Cain) Miner.
In 1919, when Odger was 14, his father died unexpectedly of a stroke. Odger made the difficult decision to leave high school and get a job to support his widowed mother and siblings. He became a laborer at the old Hazel Atlas Glass No. 2 plant in Washington, where in 1926 he earned a whopping total of $1,616. (Click here to see a rare old postcard photograph of the plant.)
On Jan. 2, 1928, Odger married Monalea Eleanor Ullom (1907-1977), the daughter of Lantz Hupp and Maud (Hinerman) Ullom. (The Ulloms owned Ullom's Hardware, Wallpaper and Paint Store for many years on West Chestnut Street in Washington.)
The
spring after they were married, Odger and Monalea honeymooned at the famed Civil
War battlefield in Gettysburg, PA. Seen
at right, they stand at the monument to the 9th Battery, Massachusetts
Artillery, along the Wheatfield Road.
When the Hazel Atlas plant closed, the Miners moved to the growing steel town of Aliquippa, Beaver County, PA, where Odger began working for Peoples Natural Gas Co. He remained there for the next 40 years. He also had his own business, Gas Appliance Service. On many cold snowy winter nights, he went to customers' homes to repair gas furnaces and other gas appliances.
Their
four children were,
seen here from left: Richard "Dean" Miner, Marjean Jones, Donald William
Miner and Odger "Wayne" Miner. All
three sons
served in the US Armed Forces -- Wayne during the Korean War, Dean during the
Japan Occupation and Don during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Marjean taught school
in Hopewell for more than three decades, and is mentioned in Belle Adams' 1982
book, The History of Beaver County Schools, Vol. 1, published by the Beaver
County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation.
Initially the Miners lived on Irwin and Reed Streets in bustling Aliquippa. During that time, Odger suffered from painful stomach ulcers, thought to have been caused by his fear that he might die young, as his father had at age 42. For a time, he could only drink milk to soothe his stomach. Only after he surpassed the age of 42 did he lose this anxiety, and fully recover.
In 1936, Odger and Monalea purchased two lots in the new subdivision of Sunset Hills in nearby Hopewell Twp. They built a Cape Cod style house on McKinley Avenue, which they later expanded by adding to their small dining room, and constructing a larger garage. They enjoyed hosting family get-togethers and other social events at their home.
Expansion of the Miners' McKinley Avenue house -- from
the day after they moved in 1936 (left) to the spring of 1949
In
the winter of 1936, Monalea and sons Wayne and Richard "Dean" took a
walk on thick ice of the
frozen Ohio River in Aliquippa, seen here, not far from their home.
On the back of the snapshot, Monalea wrote: "This was taken out on the
river two weeks ago. It was solid clear across and heaped ice cakes taller than
I am. We were probably a third of the way across when this was taken." Later, when the ice melted
throughout Pittsburgh's three rivers region, it caused what is considered the worst flood ever to
engulf the City of Pittsburgh and environs.
In 1943, Monalea was a candidate for Hopewell's Judge of Elections and Supervisor of Elections. She remained interested in public and community service throughout her life.
Despite the fact that he only had an eighth grade education, Odger in the late 1940s and early '50s served as a school board director of what today is the Hopewell Area School District. During his tenure, a new junior-senior high building was constructed, and the district undertook a major merger with two other districts (Independence and Raccoon). Odger is mentioned and pictured in a 1953 study of the merger published by University of Pittsburgh researchers William Yeager and William Byers, entitled A Limited Educational Survey of Hopewell Independence Raccoon Joint School. A copy of this study is in the Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Archives.
The Hopewell Junior High School today
Odger also was an active Boy Scout troop leader and a director of the Hopewell Volunteer Fire Department and Hopewell Firemen's Relief Association.
Continuing their interest in history, Odger and Monalea were founding members of the Mill Creek Valley Historical Society, a region in the south side of Beaver County. He collected antique lamps, and one later was donated to the Baker-Dungan Museum at the Beaver Campus of Penn State University. A local newspaper once said his lamps were important:
...not only for their own value locally, but also in the wider context of their relation to county, state and national history.... Many of his lamps have been collected locally, for example, one said to be from the old Academy in New Sheffield, but he has obtained others from Boston to Florida, and throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the W.Va. panhandle.
Odger
and Monalea were active in church and attended the CM&A Church in Aliquippa. Later, they joined the
Ohio United Presbyterian Church in
Hopewell, where he was a trustee
for many years. He also was chairman of
the Department of United Church Men of the Council of Churches of Beaver
County. At right, Odger holds grandson Mark at a family
get-together circa 1962.
During the 1950s, after Odger's uncle Will Miner became ill, he came to live temporarily with the Miners in Hopewell while he received medical treatment. Will's health returned, and in gratitude for the kindness, but without Odger's knowledge, he went to the bank to pay off Odger's mortgage.
Odger passed away on Feb. 4, 1968. He was laid to rest in Washington (PA) Cemetery.
Monalea as a costumed docent at Old Economy Village
Monalea outlived Odger by nine years. She took a
dream vacation to Europe in the summer of 1969, visiting England and Spain,
among other countries. She also became involved in many
community activities, including as a volunteer docent at Old Economy Village in
Ambridge. She also volunteered with the Baker-Dungan Museum at the Beaver Campus
of Penn State University.
She died on Oct. 25, 1977, at the age of 70, after a battle with stomach cancer. She was laid to rest beside Odger in Washington Cemetery, directly across the road from the grave of her parents and sisters Thelma Riggs and Mildred Day.
Today, the Miners' names adorn a memorial stained glass window in the Ohio UP Church sanctuary in Hopewell.
Richard Dean Miner's gallery of original wood carvings
Son
Richard Dean Miner is an accomplished sculptor in Daytona Beach, FL, who specializes in
creating wooden carvings
of wildlife figures and madonnas, which he paints or stains for effect. One of his creations, from 2002, is seen
at right.
Richard's wife,
Mae (Horne) Miner, is a native of York, PA. She published her first work of fiction in 2005, Pastor Beloved: Finding the
Spiritual in Religion, under the pen name "Eva Mae Ely" to honor
her mother and grandmother. In a review, the York (PA) Daily Record said
that the "graduate of York Hospital School of Nursing and Millersville
University said she was moved by her experiences working in hospice care to
write about book that would discuss the questions people often wonder about:
'Who am I?' 'Why did I come here?' 'Where am I going?' ... [The book] features a
pastor struggling with his identity and faith" and making detailed
comparisons between spirituality and religion. A thumbnail image of the
book's cover is seen at left. The paperback volume is available for sale on Amazon.com -- click
here to order -- with a review on RoseDogBookstore.com.
Grandson David R. Miner is the founder of a website, DivingInDepth.com, that connects scuba divers around the world to information ranging from dive travel, diving news and training to technical cave and wreck diving, forums, shopping, gear, careers/jobs and education. In 2006, he was part of the team that videotaped the planned sinking of the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier in Pensacola, Fla., and later taped their dive of the wreck. He also is the former publisher of Adventure Racing Magazine, which covered multi-sport endurance challenges such as kayaking, canoeing, biking, trail-running, hiking, climbing, swimming, mountaineering, rafting, and orienteering. David's wife, Cynthia (Kraski) Miner, is a realtor with Keller Williams Realty of Manatee in Bradenton, FL, and is profiled on the company's website.
DivingInDepth.com (left), which
features video of the sinking and
underwater remains of the USS Oriskany carrier, among other wrecks
Grandson Scott
D. Miner is a physician with Cape Cod
Healthcare in Harwich, MA, specializing in family practice with a focus on
preventive medicine, acute and chronic care, and pediatrics. He also is the
medical director of a Cape Cod physicians practice group. Scott's wife Alyssa (Hurwitz) Miner creates custom jewelry and owns her own business, Unique
Designs By Alyssa. She creates bracelets for mothers, grandmothers and
others, made of sterling silver with accents in 14K gold and 14K gold-filled
beads, spelling out the names of loved ones. A sample is seen here,
featuring the names of her sons "Jake" and "Jordan."
Grandson Mark A. Miner is the founder of this website, and president of the national Minerd-Miner-Minor Reunion. Based in Beaver, PA, he is president of his own public relations consulting firm, Mark Miner Communications, LLC, and in 2005 was elected to the Renaissance Hall of Fame of the Public Relations Society of America for his work in the legal, accounting and engineering professions. As a service to the community, he is past president of the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation, a Trustee of the Beaver Area Historical Museum and Beaver Area Education Foundation, and a board director of the Beaver Rotary Club, where in 2005 he was named "Rotarian of the Year" for the entire Pittsburgh region covering Allegheny, Beaver and Westmoreland Counties.
Copyright © 2000-2003, 2006 Mark A. Miner